Companies who still want to participate in the excitement of the 2006 World Cup have until the beginning of May to register for Goal2006, a virtual World Cup sweepstakes created by Pleon.
Goal2006 may be the world’s largest office pool. Run on a company’s Intranet, it allows any employee or customer with access to make match predictions, build and compete with virtual teams around the world, and place bets.
“Initially people were worried about the possibility of an office pool cutting into worker productivity”, commented Britta Neisen, head of Online Relations at Pleon. “But the Intranet is such a transparent interface between a company and its employees or customers, we thought why not leverage it as a tool to build more collaboration, encourage friendly competition and strengthen relationships across borders?”
Centrally managed by Pleon’s website, clients can link Goal2006 to their corporate Intranets and customise the design to fit within their own brand identities.
Neisen says the promotion can be a valuable marketing tool, and she is receiving a great deal of interest from companies who have waited until the last minute to think about World Cup activities or are looking for ways to leverage significant marketing investments, “Goal2006 is a turn-key way to maximise World Cup Sponsorships and bring the fun and excitement home to employees and customers.”
Registered participants can create personal profiles, join as many existing teams as they like, create their own team and make predictions for every World Cup match - including winners of the cup and the runners-up. Points are awarded based on accurate predictions of the end result of each match and include the results of penalty shoot-outs.
Customised features, such as the “My Profile” area, allow participants to keep track of their bets. The “My Teams” page allows individuals to pool their predictions for an average team result, accept or reject invitations to join other World Cup teams and create their own team names and mottos.
The virtual nature of the Intranet keeps the fun real-time. A World Cup team may be started up to one hour before the kick-off of the first match, and a player can join up to 30 minutes before kick-off. There will even be a Weblog available for commenting on the games. At the end of every World Cup match, the scores of players and World Cup teams are re-calculated automatically and posted to the site within two hours after the final whistle is blown. High scores are shown on the home page so participants can see how they have fared against the competition.
Goal 2006 is available to clients starting at €4000.
In addition to offering the sweepstakes to clients, Pleon is also running its own virtual office pool for its 800 employees in 15 European countries. Pleon employees in 12 European offices have already registered on Goal2006 and the number is growing daily.
About Pleon
Pleon (www.pleon.com) is Europe’s leading international consulting firm, creating and implementing strategies for private and public sector organisations around the world. With a deep understanding of business, politics and communications, Pleon is uniquely placed to devise compelling solutions that deliver measurable and tangible results. Blending the best of local market knowledge and leadership with global resources and best practice, Pleon provides a one-stop resource for communications in Europe.
The Agency has 31 branded offices in 15 European countries and associate agencies in 14 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Pleon is part of the Brodeur/Pleon Worldwide network with a presence throughout the United States, Asia Pacific and Latin America and part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.
For more information, please contact:
Britta Neisen
Pleon
Bahnstraße 2
40212 Düsseldorf
+49(0)211 – 9541 2505
britta.neisen(at)pleon.com